Integrity movement needed to combat graft: Low

By Timothy Achariam, The Sun Daily
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28 October 2015, PETALING JAYA, Malaysia: The area of corruption in government has to be dealt with on a holistic level where society has to be in line with certain integrity principles.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan said to combat graft, an integrity movement needs to be created.

"We need certain drivers to push this forward. We will come out with legislation very much like the United Kingdom's bribery act which includes adequate and preventive procedures to be put in place," he said in his speech at the Asean Responsible Business forum.

He added the government will be the test bed for the ISO 37001 anti-bribery system in line with the new legislation.

Low said that the nation is currently dealing with political transformation in terms of the changing nature of democracy.

"We (the government) have to deal with political transformation in terms of democracy, especially in terms of having a healthy debate and accepting criticism, sometimes constructive and sometimes not, but we just have to accept it, deal with it and be open about it," he said.

He added the government is grappling with the social structures of building a successful middle class in the country.

"We are grappling with the social part because the more successful we are in creating a middle class especially with social media, there is an increasing awareness in the middle class.

"Economic issues are not the most important thing anymore; there is a need for social justice, human rights and individual freedom," he said.